Thanksgiving 2012

Happy Thanksgiving! Unlike what the prominent American culture dictates, I always dreaded the giant turkey, the unforgiving cranberry sauce, and the overly thick or runny gravy. Even if it was all perfect and I got the dark meat instead of my 20+ older family members that gather each year, five bites in and I would get tired of the flat taste of a traditional Thanksgiving meal. This year, most of my family is in Vietnam, so I did not drive my mom down to have a large feast. Instead, this Thanksgiving became a culinary adventure that suited my taste a lot more.

For lunch, I made battered lobster fried with garlic and green onions, enjoyed with fried rice and a simple mustard greens broth. We shared a glass of red wine I bought when I visited Chateaunauf du Pape in the Provence region of France.

Then, not more than an hour after we finished, I began slow cooking the ragu alla bolognese. It eventually slow cooked for 4 hours. I decided to make it with the spaghetti with truffles. I wanted something with a bit more depth tonight and am saving the tagliatelle for tomorrow when my boyfriend visits. At the same time, I also used the rest of my red wine in making sangria (the wine was a bit drier than what I usually enjoy - more sauvignon taste profile and less merlot taste profile). The sangria turned out amazing; my mom didn't realize how much alcohol content is in sangria, so she got quite tipsy. Oops.